East Lake area expects to see more young people moving into community

East Lake area expects to see more young people moving into community BY VICKI BROWN, News staff writer. The young woman in the hamburger shop pointed across the street to the College Art Theater. "I saw my first good movie in that theater," she said. "It was Zorba the Greek. I can remember when we walked down and paid 15 cents for a movie." The pornographic movie house on First Avenue North in East Lake used to be a regular movie theater and a favorite hangout of neighborhood kids. The woman is one of a slowly growing small number of young people who are moving into the old neighborhood. These days, East Lake is a community of many retired, middle class and blue collar people who have lived there for a long time. But residents of the East Lake area said that with the gas crunch and the high prices of real estate in the more fashionable sections of Birmingham, like Forest Park, there are sure to be more young people moving into the area. "You can still buy a decent house in East Lake for $25,000," said Grayson Hobbs, president of the South East Lake Neighborhood Citizens Participation group.
"I think it is a very transitional neighborhood that was in the process of being downgraded."
HOBBS AND OTHERS said the concern of residents has halted that trend, at least temporarily. Now they want to
rebuild the business district and see the old homes repaired, kept up, and most of all, lived in.
"When I was elected president in 1977 there were only seven or eight people coming to the meetings," said Andy Smith, a former South East Lake neighborhood president.
"The attendence is not that great now, but we're averaging 30 to 40 people per meeting. I don't think people realize that we have $44,500 a year to spend in that neighborhood."
Hobbs and Smith have a dream for East Lake, which Smith said may be becoming a fantasy.
They and the residents of the area who fought to close Playhouse East, a local go-go club that kept police on a constant run, are worried about the kind of businesses that, are on First Avenue.
They said they'd like to see the porn shops move out, and more business like Woods Drug Store open instead.
"We've talked to Joe Knight's office (the Office of Economic Development)," said Hobbs. One thing Smith wants is a high-rise complex for elderly people.
"You own a house and live there all your life. Your friends are there. Your church is there. Then when you get old and can't live alone or keep up a house, you're uprooted," said Smith.
IF THERE WAS a high rise somewhere on First Avenue, ideally back behind the Playhouse East, people wouldn't have to move out, he said,
The problem there, said Smith, is that to build such a place you have to find somewhere to relocate the people who live in the existing apartments in that area.
But he said East Lake is unique, because it has a library, a hospital, recreation facilities, a police precinct, and a still fairly lively business district.
It's hard to get new businesses to move in, though. The old Sears building on First Avenue was vacant for years until U-Haul finally moved in.
That was a problem too, since the neighborhood wanted the business but didn't want the light industrial zoning required for the self-storage facility U-Haul wanted.
The end result was that the neighborhood worked with U-Haul officials to get the zoning ordinance rewritten so every-one could have what he wanted.
JUST HOW GOOD are the chances of East Lake becoming another Forest Park or Southside?
"I don't think you could really compare it to Forest Park," said Brooks Yeildings, president of Jefferson Federal Savings and Loans.
"The housing is different. In Forest Park you have the old two-story mansions. In East Lake you've got single bungalow type housing."
Also, he said, Forest Park had the professional people from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the medical center moving into the area. In East Lake, he said, those who move in will be more middle class.
However, Yeildings said the demand for loans in the eastern area is going up, and is probably right behind areas like Forest Park and Southside.
"I don't have any statistics," he said. However, he added, demand. for housing loans is going up in the area, as it is all over the city.
He said the eastern area is probably close behind the southern area in demand for loans, while the western areas of the city are lagging behind in the number of people moving back .
WHY NOT JUST FOLLOW the move to the suburbs if things you don't like move in?
Well, as one 26-year-old woman said, not everyone can move or wants to. "My parents can't afford to move to a new house and they've lived here all their lives.
"Why should they have to see their neighborhood go down around them?"
East Lake, like much of the eastern area, has a reputation of being an all white neighborhood.
Gate City, Zion City and Brown Springs, however, are largely black,
Mrs. Ossie Ware Mitchell, a member of the Birmingham Board of Education and a resident of Brown Springs, said she sees signs of people moving. .
Mrs. Mitchell said people from Brown Springs are beginning to move across Oporto-Madrid into the largely white section. And, she said, many white people seem to be moving out.
But she said there have never been any real racial problems in the area. "When I was a child there was always somebody around to help if someone was sick, black or white," she said.
Brown Springs is like the rest of East Lake in that it is mostly retired people, she said, although, there are more young people moving in .there also.
She said the neighborhood is mixed economically, with some middle class and some poorer people.
BOTH HOBBS AND SMITH said that the concerns of Brown Springs residents are the same as those of South East Lake and North East Lake. "They're good neighbors," said Hobbs.
North East Lake is probably suffering more as a residential area than South East Lake. The construction of 1-59 cut off residential pockets in North East Lake, and residents around the airport are worried about the effect of the airport noise and improvements on the value of homes.
Donna Gilliland, a North East Lake resident who has tried to organize residents to oppose the cutting down of trees and other safety improvements for the airport, said her group has pretty much given up for the time being.
She said residents can't sell their homes because of the noise, and they can't live in the home comfortably because of the noise.
"We're just waiting and hoping that when the city finishes the noise studies they'll realize the airport is a health hazard and buy our property," she said,
HOBBS SAID the residential areas in North and South East Lake need to be preserved. "The gas crunch is going to continue and people will be moving back in," said Hobbs. L "We need those homes."
He points to the problems of downtown Birmingham businesses as an example of what happens when people aren't living near a business district any more, explaining that people will shop where they live.
And again, he said, the homes are reasonably priced.s "Young people cannot afford the prices further out, unless they're really successful or Mom and Dad are forking over some money," he said. "But they can still buy a nice older
home in East Lake for $25,000."
However, he said he and his wife Emily had difficulty getting a loan to fix up the older home they bought 10 years ago. Both said they had known of other people having the d same problems.
Yeildings said this might have been true 10 years ago, but said he doubts it is true now.
HOBBS SAID HE HAS also heard of real estate agents bringing young couples to East Lake and showing them some of the more dilapidated areas as an example of why East Lake is not a good place to invest in a home.
Then, he said, the agent can sell a couple a more expensive home in Hoover or some new subdivison.
While North East Lake is more of a transient area, South East Lake probably has more apartments, Smith said.
"You've got all those apartments over around Rugby where the old Howard College was," he said.
"I would love to see the old areas held until people move back in," said Hobbs. "It would be a shame for Birmingham to lose any more residential property than it already has."

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East Lake area expects to see more young people moving into community BY VICKI BROWN, News staff writer. The young woman in the hamburger shop pointed across the street to the College Art Theater. "I saw my first good movie in that theater," she said. "It was Zorba the Greek. I can remember when we walked down and paid 15 cents for a movie." The pornographic movie house on First Avenue North in East Lake used to be a regular movie theater and a favorite hangout of neighborhood kids. The woman is one of a slowly growing small number of young people who are moving into the old neighborhood. These days, East Lake is a community of many retired, middle class and blue collar people who have lived there for a long time. But residents of the East Lake area said that with the gas crunch and the high prices of real estate in the more fashionable sections of Birmingham, like Forest Park, there are sure to be more young people moving into the area. "You can still buy a decent house in East Lake for $25,000," said Grayson Hobbs, president of the South East Lake Neighborhood Citizens Participation group.
"I think it is a very transitional neighborhood that was in the process of being downgraded."
HOBBS AND OTHERS said the concern of residents has halted that trend, at least temporarily. Now they want to
rebuild the business district and see the old homes repaired, kept up, and most of all, lived in.
"When I was elected president in 1977 there were only seven or eight people coming to the meetings," said Andy Smith, a former South East Lake neighborhood president.
"The attendence is not that great now, but we're averaging 30 to 40 people per meeting. I don't think people realize that we have $44,500 a year to spend in that neighborhood."
Hobbs and Smith have a dream for East Lake, which Smith said may be becoming a fantasy.
They and the residents of the area who fought to close Playhouse East, a local go-go club that kept police on a constant run, are worried about the kind of businesses that, are on First Avenue.
They said they'd like to see the porn shops move out, and more business like Woods Drug Store open instead.
"We've talked to Joe Knight's office (the Office of Economic Development)," said Hobbs. One thing Smith wants is a high-rise complex for elderly people.
"You own a house and live there all your life. Your friends are there. Your church is there. Then when you get old and can't live alone or keep up a house, you're uprooted," said Smith.
IF THERE WAS a high rise somewhere on First Avenue, ideally back behind the Playhouse East, people wouldn't have to move out, he said,
The problem there, said Smith, is that to build such a place you have to find somewhere to relocate the people who live in the existing apartments in that area.
But he said East Lake is unique, because it has a library, a hospital, recreation facilities, a police precinct, and a still fairly lively business district.
It's hard to get new businesses to move in, though. The old Sears building on First Avenue was vacant for years until U-Haul finally moved in.
That was a problem too, since the neighborhood wanted the business but didn't want the light industrial zoning required for the self-storage facility U-Haul wanted.
The end result was that the neighborhood worked with U-Haul officials to get the zoning ordinance rewritten so every-one could have what he wanted.
JUST HOW GOOD are the chances of East Lake becoming another Forest Park or Southside?
"I don't think you could really compare it to Forest Park," said Brooks Yeildings, president of Jefferson Federal Savings and Loans.
"The housing is different. In Forest Park you have the old two-story mansions. In East Lake you've got single bungalow type housing."
Also, he said, Forest Park had the professional people from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the medical center moving into the area. In East Lake, he said, those who move in will be more middle class.
However, Yeildings said the demand for loans in the eastern area is going up, and is probably right behind areas like Forest Park and Southside.
"I don't have any statistics," he said. However, he added, demand. for housing loans is going up in the area, as it is all over the city.
He said the eastern area is probably close behind the southern area in demand for loans, while the western areas of the city are lagging behind in the number of people moving back .
WHY NOT JUST FOLLOW the move to the suburbs if things you don't like move in?
Well, as one 26-year-old woman said, not everyone can move or wants to. "My parents can't afford to move to a new house and they've lived here all their lives.
"Why should they have to see their neighborhood go down around them?"
East Lake, like much of the eastern area, has a reputation of being an all white neighborhood.
Gate City, Zion City and Brown Springs, however, are largely black,
Mrs. Ossie Ware Mitchell, a member of the Birmingham Board of Education and a resident of Brown Springs, said she sees signs of people moving. .
Mrs. Mitchell said people from Brown Springs are beginning to move across Oporto-Madrid into the largely white section. And, she said, many white people seem to be moving out.
But she said there have never been any real racial problems in the area. "When I was a child there was always somebody around to help if someone was sick, black or white," she said.
Brown Springs is like the rest of East Lake in that it is mostly retired people, she said, although, there are more young people moving in .there also.
She said the neighborhood is mixed economically, with some middle class and some poorer people.
BOTH HOBBS AND SMITH said that the concerns of Brown Springs residents are the same as those of South East Lake and North East Lake. "They're good neighbors," said Hobbs.
North East Lake is probably suffering more as a residential area than South East Lake. The construction of 1-59 cut off residential pockets in North East Lake, and residents around the airport are worried about the effect of the airport noise and improvements on the value of homes.
Donna Gilliland, a North East Lake resident who has tried to organize residents to oppose the cutting down of trees and other safety improvements for the airport, said her group has pretty much given up for the time being.
She said residents can't sell their homes because of the noise, and they can't live in the home comfortably because of the noise.
"We're just waiting and hoping that when the city finishes the noise studies they'll realize the airport is a health hazard and buy our property," she said,
HOBBS SAID the residential areas in North and South East Lake need to be preserved. "The gas crunch is going to continue and people will be moving back in," said Hobbs. L "We need those homes."
He points to the problems of downtown Birmingham businesses as an example of what happens when people aren't living near a business district any more, explaining that people will shop where they live.
And again, he said, the homes are reasonably priced.s "Young people cannot afford the prices further out, unless they're really successful or Mom and Dad are forking over some money," he said. "But they can still buy a nice older
home in East Lake for $25,000."
However, he said he and his wife Emily had difficulty getting a loan to fix up the older home they bought 10 years ago. Both said they had known of other people having the d same problems.
Yeildings said this might have been true 10 years ago, but said he doubts it is true now.
HOBBS SAID HE HAS also heard of real estate agents bringing young couples to East Lake and showing them some of the more dilapidated areas as an example of why East Lake is not a good place to invest in a home.
Then, he said, the agent can sell a couple a more expensive home in Hoover or some new subdivison.
While North East Lake is more of a transient area, South East Lake probably has more apartments, Smith said.
"You've got all those apartments over around Rugby where the old Howard College was," he said.
"I would love to see the old areas held until people move back in," said Hobbs. "It would be a shame for Birmingham to lose any more residential property than it already has."